My wife and I acquired our first sailboat this summer (76 C-22) and will be performing some minor overhaul items over the winter in preparation for the upcoming sailing season. One of the issues is the boat's name on the transom....we hate it. Koinonia. Is there a way to remove the name paint without damaging the gelcoat? We're aware of the superstition of changing a boat's name and have educated ourselves on the required rituals involved. Any tips will be greatly appreciated.

I've had good results with the Back To Nature brand products, used it to strip all the red paint off a Cal 21 years ago. I'd try it on one letter as a test. The make a home version and a marine version that's nearly twice as much; I read the MSDS on each and found no difference other than one is green and one is blue.

Thanks for the tip. I've looked around at some similar posts and found that the gelcoat beneath the painted portion of the name will be colored slightly since it was protected from the sun. I guess I'll have to go with the lesser of 2 evils in this case.